Gunman’s ‘driver’ in QC shooting falls

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) operatives on Wednesday said one of the two suspects in the shooting of five people in the city’s Fairview district on Sunday had been arrested.

Chief Supt. Richard Albano, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director, said Alsaid Mindalano was positively identified by a witness as the driver of the motorcycle used in the shooting rampage.

The gunman, Mohammad “Walad” Sandigan, remained at large.

Mindalano, 28, a vendor and resident of Barangay Holy Spirit, was arrested along with five other people at an abandoned house in Fairmont Subdivision, Barangay North Fairview, on Tuesday afternoon. Seized from him was the motorcycle used in Sunday’s shooting spree.

Senior Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said Mindalano and Sandigan were positively identified by a witness who spotted the duo as they went on a shooting rampage between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Go was reportedly the only daughter of a retired Philippine Constabulary official, Col. Alfredo Go. Auguis, on the other hand, was married to a policeman.

Go was standing outside Fairmont Subdivision when she was killed.

A police team went to the subdivision on Tuesday to look for the gunman, Sandigan, who had listed the area as his address.

But when they went to his house, they found Mindalano and five other people.

Marcelo said Sandigan had been previously charg ed with robbery with homicide, frustrated homicide, car theft and assault of a police officer.

“Our manhunt for the remaining suspect continues,” the policeman said.

Marcelo said one of the six suspects is a minor and was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development and another one may be released.

The lawman also said a red motorcycle believed used in the killings, with license plate “1483,” was linked to the fatal shooting of a jeepney driver in October 2013.

“We expect to solve many shooting incidents in Fairview,” he added.

Marcelo said they have not established the motive for the shooting.

Albano assured the public that the six people arrested in connection with Sunday’s shooting spree in Fairview were not fall guys. “We made sure that they were taken alive so that we can follow up on the killings in Fairview.”

He added that his men raided the hideout of the suspects in Fairmont Subdivision armed with a warrant issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 87 Judge Aurora Hernandez.

The suspects tried to escape and fired shots at the policemen, but authorities had the area, including streets, surrounded.

Recovered from the suspects’ hideout were several guns, bullets, grenades, shabu and motorcycles, some of which were believed to have been used in the commission of crimes.

All the arrested suspects denied involvement in the shooting spree but Albano said two witnesses came forward and positively identified Mindalano as the one who drove the motorcycle.

‘’With the help of informants and intelligence information it all pieced together,’’ he added.